The present invention relates to a device and associated method for counting objects, such as eggs or the like.
Counting objects is necessary in a large number of application areas, for example for controlling production sequences or conveyor processes. The purpose of counting devices or counting methods is to establish the number of individual products that have been produced or are present in a specific time period, in a specific surface area and/or by a specific number of productive units. For this purpose, the products are either guided past a stationary counting device, for example a conveying device, or the counting device is moved along the products.
Typically devices of this kind for counting objects are used for counting eggs inside or outside a coop for egg-laying poultry. In this application, counting is necessary to monitor and control the discharge of laid eggs from the laying area or from collection points arranged after the laying area, and the number of laid eggs, particularly if broken down according to animals, coop units, coop rows or other combined units, provides information about the laying output and can give an indication of any irregularities, such as for example illness.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,901 a counting device is known which consists of multiple emitter/detector pairs arranged in a row next to one another. The row extends transversely across a conveyor belt on which the eggs are moved past the counting device. Due to the different reflection properties of the conveyor belt surface and the surface of an egg placed thereon, such known counting devices can identify the presence of an egg in the area of one of the detectors. Several measurements made at discrete time intervals make it possible to associate the surface section determined by the detectors at different times with a single egg, and in this way establish that an egg has passed under the counting device. In this way, by means of the corresponding, consecutive increase and decrease in the number of detectors registering the egg surface, it can be assumed that an egg has passed through, and the egg can be counted.
A problem with conveying objects, particularly round objects, such as eggs, is that the latter can move independently when the conveying device accelerates. For example, the eggs can roll in the opposite direction to the conveying direction. Particularly if the conveying device is stopped and started often due to control procedures or the like, round objects can also move through the counting device in the opposite direction to the conveying direction. However, the known counting devices are not in a position to differentiate between objects moving in the conveying direction or opposite the conveying direction, so that when there are movements in the wrong direction a counting error occurs.
Therefore, there is a need for a counting device which produces a more reliable counting result, particularly when the objects move temporarily in a direction opposite to the conveying direction.
The requirements for the control of production processes are increasing continually, particularly in areas where animals are involved in production, the requirements for the control of production processes are increased for safety of the animals. Therefore, not only is there a need for a counting device which reliably counts the products, but also for a counting device which collects further data in addition to the actual counting process, thereby making it possible to analyze or draw conclusions about the production process and any disruptions to production, such as for example any illness of the animals. A counting device or a device for counting is therefore defined in this description and the claims as a device which is suitable for counting objects, but can also be designed to acquire additional data as well. In the same way, a counting method or method for counting is defined as a method that counts objects on the one hand, but on the other hand can also be designed to establish other data in addition to counting objects.